The Eternal Search to Find One's Self: Flash Fiction and Beyond

The Eternal Question: Paper or Plastic?

Pick a divisive issue currently in the news. Write a two-part post in which you take on two personas and approach the topic from both sides. Bonus points for a creative format (roundtable discussion, debate transcript, etc.).

Rushing to the door, I could feel the bag begging to release from the bottom. The razor-sharp-edged corners of the products weighting down the bag. Frozen foods were sooo deadly in a square.

Just as I entered the kitchen…Whoosh…. Small packets of sweet corn and baby peas and lima beans and Brussel sprouts were all over the floor.

“Honey, why didn’t you ask them to double bag them.”

“That sort of defeats the whole purpose. How many landfills should we fill up on our own?”

“Well, you know I always take our recycled handbags to the grocers.”

“Yes, I know. I love to be seen carrying your neon pick and plush green recyclables into the market.”

“Don’t be that way. We agreed.”

“You agreed.”

“The facts speak for themselves, dear”

“Your facts. Paper denigrates far faster than your recyclables. Paper is handy. Irk is renewable. It creates a workforce. I LIKE PAPER!”

“But honey. We have purchased all of these recyclables when we decided to go green as a family.”

“I know. Seventeen of them. Do you know how long it will take them to ‘go back to Mother Earth’ when we are finished using them. A lot longer than my paper bags.”

“Did you get the green beans for the casserole tonight?”

“Do you see them on the floor?”

“Never mind. I’ll go back and get them.” She walked over a lifted two neatly hooked recycling purses off the pantry wall. “Be back in a minute.”

You could hear the 2015 Buick Enclave SUV power-up a reverse from the garage.

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5 thoughts on “The Eternal Question: Paper or Plastic?”

Oh, the irony. You’ve captured it well. Having worked in the natural and organic food industry, there’s lots of that kind of irony…and snobbery! But I do shop with my reuseable bags when I remember them!

When reusable bags were introduced in my country and supermarkets began to charge disposable plastic bags, people saw this as a step forward in protecting the environment. But the problem is, I still need plastic bags for the garbage bin, so I have to buy those classical black bin bags. So what’s changed is only that now I pay for the trash bags, while I used to get them for free by reusing the ones from the supermarket. And even if they were still free of charge, they’re now made in natural materials which has to be used two at a time, or they are likely to fail and cause spillage. Result: I throw away the same amount of plastic, I am poorer, the Earth is not cleaner.